Worlds Apart
by 14thEternityNightMare
Summary: The Zaoldyeck family had an extra member... EH! What do you mean he's a survivor of the Kurata clan! Warnings inside. Rating might change later on. YAOI. OC x Killua.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

A/N: I suddenly got the urge to write a HxH story after reading (and watching) HxH like…3 or 4 times. Well! That certainly took long… ;] Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Hunter x Hunter, only my OCs.

Warnings: This shall only be displayed on the first chapter (this one) or if the rating changes.

Shounen-ai, yaoi, slash, whatever you want to call m/m relationships. OCs, perhaps OOC, slightly AU (not much), but mostly canon.

Pairing: OC/Killua (YAOI)

XXX

X Main Character (whose name you will find out later) POV X

"Hakumi…! Y-you moron…! Why…!" cried the distressed voice. The boy…no…no longer a boy, but a man, in front of me held me gently, crying silently into my shirt.

I lifted a heavy hand, placing it on his cheek, stroking it comfortingly. "A-akira…you were my first love…please…please…remember that you'll never be alone…as long as you think about me. Don't be sad…move on…"

"Y-you couldn't have waited until we got married…" he said, smiling despite the tears running down his cheeks, probably fully intent that I saw his smile as the last thing on earth…that baka…

I smiled for his sake as well. "Now…now I can pass on knowing I saved you…" with that, I closed my eyes and felt my consciousness fade, the last words I heard were, "I love you."

XXX

My eyes snapped open from the soft breath blowing gently across my face, and punched upwards on reflex. "Wha-! Oh…it's just you, Saeki."

The figure in front of me huffed angrily, clutching his cheek. "Hey…! What do you mean by 'just you'? I wake you up and this is the thanks I get?"

"Yeah, yeah… well. Seems like I've made it back with my memories intact once again, huh? Guess this saves _him_ some trouble."

"Tch… you're right about **that**! You got no idea how much he's bitching about how much work he has to do these days…" said the figure, spreading his snow white wings out and stretching. "Give me a moment, yeah? I'll get the papers."

I nodded my head slightly, acknowledging what he said.

Before he took off into the sky, he paused, lips stretching into a wicked smirk. "Oi! Minna~! She's back…!"

I felt the blood drain out of my face, and started cursing. "Shit! Not this again…!"

Taking a deep breath, I mentally prepared myself for what I knew was coming. A huge flurry of wings flapping and a couple of rough landings later, I was surrounded by almost all the angels that existed, excluding those who went on missions, both male and female.

There were various cries, but I'll summarize them for you. They went like this:

"Hakumi-chan~! Your female form is so pretty!"

"Hakumi-sama, are you going to stay this time?"

"Kyaaah! Hakumi-kun, you're going to choose a male form this time, right?"

This was what most of them were like, as well as several others that I have no wish of repeating.

After another couple of hours of *ahem* torturing, Saeki came back clutching an electronic device that looked like an electronic drawing pad. I sweat dropped, staring at the device. "And…? What in the world is that for?"

Saeki scratched the back of his head, looking sheepish. "You see, I forgot that we had this and _he_ finally told me about it."

I felt myself twitch. "Aah…? Is that so…? So you're trying to tell me that all the times I've been here and filling in those forms and papers for _**nothing**_?"

Inwardly, I snickered, watching Saeki cower like a terrified little girl in front of me. He was really cute sometimes. Outwardly, however, I sighed. "Ah…Whatever… Pass it to me."

Quickly, he handed me the device and my lips twitched in amusement as he retreated cautiously into the higher area. "I'll call for you when I'm done."

"Okayyy~!"

I glanced at the electronic device. It contained all the questions that were going to be permanent… for my next life anyway.

You see, when someone dies, their souls get sent back to heaven and reborn into another (or the same) dimension with a different name, perhaps gender, and personality with no memory whatsoever about their past lives. So far, there has only one person who has been reborn 7 times remembering all of his/her past lives…me.

I removed the pen from the side of the device with a click. Sighing, I started filling the stuff I wanted in. Since I'm the only person so far who has remembered everything of their past life, _he_ has 'granted' me the privilege of filling in the details I want for myself.

This is what I ended up with:

Name: Satsuki

Gender: Male

Hair color: Chocolate brown

Eye color: Grey-blue

Flaws/marks: Mole on face diagonally below the right eye

Full-grown height: 184cm

Hair type: Straight

Family job: Assassins

Age of realization: 1

After filling in everything on the device, a small figure popped up, showing what I was going to look like in my next life. After watching it spin around in a criticizing manner, I finally satisfied myself with the looks.

"SAEKI!"

He appeared by my side more or less in around 3 seconds, took the device in my hand and looked through it.

"Huh…you didn't fill in some parts…again."

"Yeah…you can just let _him_ decide."

"Okay…well, you can go to sleep now. You'll fully awake again when you're 1."

"Yeah, yeah…"

XXX

X Normal POV X

A blonde haired woman cradled her child, looking down at him fondly. "His name is Satsuki…Satsuki Kurata."

XXX

The woman cradled her child in her arms, hiding her face with a black hood. She waited patiently in the bus, waiting for the stop.

When the bus stopped for the tourist attraction, she got off the bus cautiously, listening to the tour guide like the rest of the tourists.

"…and right in front of you, you will see the infamous Zaoldyeck family gates. No one has ever seen their faces before, once you go in, you'll never come back out again."

When everyone was oohing and ahing over the gates, the blonde-haired woman quietly carried her child and placed him beside the guard tower, where the guard was occupied with lifting weights and didn't notice her, took out a letter and placed it in the baby's yukata pocket.

With that, she quietly got onto the bus again with the rest of the tourists.

Silently, her tears fell as she whispered her last words to her child, "My child…I hope you live a fulfilling life. Mama…has an illness... She won't be able to see you anymore."

XXX

The guard looked down at his nametag. It said in big, blocky letters, 'ZEBURO'. It had already been 2 years since he had gotten the job for this post. Sure, he was pretty much just a glorified janitor, but the pay was high and it was what those idiots got for blindly charging in and trying to 'assassinate' the Zaoldyeck family.

He was suddenly startled out of his thoughts when a child's cry was heard. "Wha-?"

Quickly, he got out of the office booth and checked where the sound was coming from. It was indeed from a child! Not much older than 11 months and already abandoned here.

What were parents thinking these days? How irresponsible! His eyes were narrowing in anger before the child moved, a flash of white catching his eye. Zeburo grabbed the letter in a flash, trying not to alert the child.

The instant he pulled the letter out, the child's eye darted towards him, cries immediately silenced, watching his every move. Feeling ridiculous at being intimidated by a child's actions, he quickly scanned through the letter and his eyes widened.

This child…! If the letter was real…! With those thoughts in mind, Zeburo rushed over to the telephone connected to the butler's quarters.

"What's the problem?"

"Aah…excuse me. I found a child left in front of the booth and there was a letter…"

"Hm? What did it say?"

"It said—"

XXX

A silver haired man looked down at the child in the cradle. "So, this is the child?"

The butler bowed. "Hai, Silva-sama!"

"…fine. Leave us."

The butler bowed once again, retreating out of the house as quickly as possible, still in the same bowing position.

Kikyo glanced at the child with a blank expression. "So with this, our debt is paid off, is it not?"

"Yes. Though, I feel great potential from this child. He will be a fine assassin. We will raise him as our own."

"What is his name?"

"Satsuki…Satsuki Zaoldyeck."

At that moment, as if responding to his name, Satsuki opened his eyes and blinked them cutely, waking up. He looked at the unfamiliar faces and smiled, eyes curving into semi-circles, a hand raised in the air reaching out to them.

Both assassins looked surprised. "This child…! Potential indeed…"

"Although children are the most sensitive to their surroundings, as well as the auras that surround people, he is completely unafraid! Why, even Illumi cried the first few months when we went near him or picked him up."

After a couple more minutes of staring, Kikyo started caving. "Dear, he's so cute…! I just want to coddle him and spoil him until he cries."

Beside her, her husband sweat dropped. _At least there are no other obstacles that will prevent him from being part of our family…though; I really do hope she's kidding about spoiling him…_

XXX

X 1 Month later X

X Satsuki POV X

_Aha…! Finally, I wake up from that stupid darkness. I've turned one already? Hardly feels like I've slept at all._ After thinking these thoughts, I was alerted to the sound of footsteps entering the room. A woman with bandages covering her mouth (and the rest of her face) as well as a strange looking device that covered her eyes, wearing a large Victorian-style hat and dress appeared in his line of sight.

It clicked somewhere in my memories that this was my mother.

"M-m-mama!"

She shrieked. "OH MY GOD! Silva! Look! He's calling me!"

My father (what I deduced from my memories) popped his head into the room.

"Papa!" I said, in a somewhat innocent voice.

"Papa, mama, look! 'Suki can talk 'eady!" I hoped I sounded half as convincing as I did to myself. No way a 1 year old baby could talk, let alone form sentences, but whatever. They can treat me as if I'm a prodigy or something. It didn't really matter as long as I get to _move_ around, not stay here and sleep all day!

Both of them looked stupefied at my 'sudden genius'. I let out a laugh, but it came out as a high-pitched giggle (much to my dismay). Mother started fawning over my first words, crooning and patting me on the head. Father on the other hand, still had a far-away look in his eyes.

It seemed like it finally sunk in after another 7 minutes. "He's a genius…got to be. **I **couldn't speak until I reached at least 2! Illumi started speaking when he was 2 as well…"

XXX

I escaped that monstrosity they called a cradle easily. I swear if I stayed there any longer, I was going to go insane. What did they say? Stay in a small place for a long time and you go claustrophobic.

I spotted a window near me and using a chair, peeked through it to see how far above the ground I was. At the sight I saw, I started swearing inwardly. _What the…who the hell builds a house 1200 feet above sea level?_

There went _that _plan! So I was going to escape the old-fashioned way.

XXX

X 1 Year Later X

I walked up to an 8 year old Illumi. "Nii-san, what are you doing?"

Surprised at not hearing me, he fell to the ground in shock. "Wha-! Oh…it's 'Suki."

I huffed angrily. "What do you mean 'oh…'?"

Illumi smiled and patted me on the head soothingly. "No need to get so angry. I was merely stating some facts."

Pretending to be satisfied, I smiled at him, though inwardly I was fuming that a _child_ was talking to me like this. Sure, I was a child in this timeline/dimension, that didn't mean he could talk to me like that…!

"So…what 'cha doing?"

Illumi glanced down at his book that was sitting in his lap. "I'm learning the finer arts of our family trade."

Heh. Figures…he was such a workaholic. In fact, the only time I ever see him take a break from his work is when I walk up to him and talk to him. He's already gone on his first mission a week ago and is starting to want to know more about our 'family trade' as possible.

Beside me, 3 year old Milluki toddled up to us. "Illumi-nii already started reading up on assassination? Lend me that book when you're done, won't you?"

Illumi sighed. "No…this is a book on Nen. You won't be able to use it yet, but I'll lend it to you. Just don't tell dad that I lent it to you, alright?"

Both of us cheered. "We promise!"

XXX

X 2 Years later… X (he's currently 4 now)

"'Suki, we have to tell you something… we're not your real parents. You were entrusted to us by a dear friend…currently, we still do not know if you are related to her or not since no one has ever seen her face before. Also, we have only known her by first name, so I hope you don't think of us badly."

I looked up at them, my real smile shining through. "Mother, father… I've always known I wasn't your real child…that I was adopted…it was pretty obvious if you think about it, and I've **never** thought of you as anything other than my loving father and mother that have taken care of me the last 3 years," I said, putting on a serious voice, "however, I _do_ want to go out and explore the world…learn new things…new experiences…being somewhat locked up on this insanely high mountain that our house is on has really made it my passion…"

Father kept quiet, pondering over my words. Mother, on the other hand, hugged me tightly. "Of course you can go, honey! I'm so proud of you! You even started assassination jobs at the age of 4! I'm so very proud of you!"

XXX

X1 Year later…X (age 5)

I quickly jotted down a letter to my family and left through the window. From there, I made my way down towards our family gate…

I opened 4 gates, which made 16 tons, pretty impressive for a 5 year old.

I needed to go to a far-out place where I could practice Nen. It was no good for my Nen abilities to leak out to the world. I needed a new disguise…

XXX

X7 Years later…X (age 12)

"Mito-san! Ohayo! I'm back from my latest job," I cried out, "Is Gon out again?"

Mito-san was like a second mother to me. She genuinely cared for everyone but she wasn't perfect, of course…no one is.

She stopped her work (dusting) immediately and hugged me hard. "'Suki-kun! You were gone a long time and Gon…no, both of us really missed you."

Without realizing it, my face already had a full-grown smile on it. The past 7 years, I had been training myself and body to first keep up with the new abilities of Nen, and second, to further hone my instincts as well as practice the other forms of combat I had learnt.

After a couple more minutes of small talk with Mito-san, I headed to my room and changed out of my assassination clothes. I picked out a piece of clothing that I had made myself. It was a Chinese style dress that had slits up to just above my knees, a pale blue that suited my eyes. Underneath, I wore a pair of black shorts. Sure I was only twelve, but my body had already hit the height of 164cm. If people weren't able to tell I was male (in this timeline anyways), then it was their own fault if they weren't able to tell between genders. Of course, it probably didn't help that my hair now reached all the way down to just above my butt, as well as my bangs that covered my eyes.

Deciding not to ponder on it anymore, I walked out of the house holding myself with a dignified grace that one only mastered with years of practice.

It was pretty easy to track Gon down since he had a unique smell (not that others were able to tell anyways), and I found him sprawled out on a tree branch up high.

Looking up, I sighed, allowing my urge to smile to surface. "Gon~! Guess whose back?"

He shot up so fast; he literally fell to the ground. "Itai…!" he groaned, rubbing the back of his head.

I chuckled. "Nice to see you again too."

"'Suki! You're back!"

"Yeah. Want to know what happened this time? If you're not scared that is…" I said, casting a sly glance from the side.

Catching my glance, he cheered. "No way! Tell me, tell me!"

Smirking, I started my story. "Well…"

XXX

A/N: Tell me if you liked it! :D If you have any suggestions, please feel free to message me or mention it in your review!


	2. Chapter 2

Worlds Apart – Chapter 2

A/N: Here's the next chapter! :DDD This time 'Suki's going to meet everyone!

Warnings: Read the first chapter for them.

Disclaimer: I do not own Hunter X Hunter and never will (T^T)

XXX

X Normal POV X

X 6 Years Later X (age 18)

"'Suki-kun…take care of Gon for me, please…if he gets into any kind of trouble, please help him!" said Mito-san.

Satsuki's eyes softened. "Of course! I would have taken care of him even if you hadn't asked. Gon is like a little brother to me."

"…Thank you."

XXX

"Oi! Gon! I'll meet you in a couple of hours at the ship, alright? So you can wander around a bit."

Gon grinned. "Okay!"

'Suki walked off to see if he could find any valuables.

After awhile, Gon sighed. "Oh no… I forgot to ask him where it was…"

XXX

'Suki had a worried frown on his face. Where was Gon? The ship was already moving! As the ship moved further away, he saw two figures running in the distance. "Oi! Wait for us!"

Looking at them out of the corner of his eye, the captain said, "Get on the ship by yourselves! We're not going to wait for you. If you're going to be a hunter, then you should have enough skill to do at least this!"

Of course, soon after, Gon found a way on board (by using his fishing rod) and greeted 'Suki cheerfully. "'Suki! We got on board!" after remembering that Leorio was by his side, he said, "Leorio, this is 'Suki, my childhood friend."

Leorio smiled at 'Suki and held out his hand. "Hello. It's nice to see a pretty girl trying to be a hunter."

'Suki's lips twitched in amusement briefly while Gon started looking at Leorio strangely. 'Suki smiled at him, and shook hands with him very _very __**very**_ gently. After awhile, Leorio spoke. "Wow…you sure are strong for a girl…"

A vein appeared on 'Suki's head. "Hm…? Gon, why is your friend so sexist?"

Leorio paled. "Ah, no, no, it's just that you don't usually find a girl that's so strong!"

'Suki laughed. "I'm joking, I'm joking! Don't take it so seriously! But if you said that to girls, they would definitely beat you up."

He scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Right…"

By this time, Gon had already wandered off, bored of the casual talk. It turned out that the captain of the ship had started talking to him. After awhile, he looked off into the vast ocean. "Ah…there's going to be a storm…the seagulls are communicating.

'Suki looked over, moving over to stand by Gon's side. "In around…2 hours."

Behind them, Leorio scoffed. "Rain? Yeah right. There's not even a single cloud in the sky."

'Suki smiled at him sweetly while Gon grinned widely. "You'll see soon enough…"

XXX

Lightning came first, followed by the loud booming of thunder. Most, except for the captain, crew members and four other rookie-examinees, were groaning from the sea-sickness due to the violent moving of the storm.

The captain of the ship walked in to check who was left of the number of hunter-wannabes that had at least enough skill to survive the first part of the test. To his surprise, this year there were four of them, not the usual one or two (or none) that he saw every year.

The first was a man, roughly around 194cm with black unruly hair and green eyes, a small pair of glasses sitting on the bridge of his nose that was reading a perverted magazine.

In one of the corners, a young man slept soundly in a gently swaying hammock, not being bothered with the violent rocking of the boat at all. He had fair blonde hair and his clothes had some tribe clans' symbol on it.

The third was a young boy, probably the age of twelve, running back and forth giving those who were sea-sick some sort of herbal brew to make them feel better. He had spiky black hair and wore green, his weapon of choice was strange, being a fishing rod and all, but useful if he knew how to use it properly.

Lastly, there was an 18-year old boy that looked very much like a girl. If it wasn't for his years of experience (plus the slight bulge of the adam's apple) he would have thought that he was a girl as well. Who knows what these kinds of people did to those who mistook them for the wrong gender. Now that he thought about it, the boy in the hammock looked slightly feminine as well… Moving on… he had chocolate-brown hair and grey-blue eyes that were currently in a star-like shape. He sweat dropped. The boy was looking hungrily at the snacks (chocolates and whatnot) on the floor spread out in front of him.

A large sweat drop appeared on the captain's head. The kid could still eat even though they were in the middle of a storm. Judging by how he gave a huge yawn, he could probably soundly sleep through it as well.

Grunting, he made himself known to them. "You four… Why do you want to become hunters?"

Gon stopped running around and stood in front of him. "Hi! I'm Gon. I want to find my father."

Leorio bonked him on the head. "Moron! Don't just go around telling people stuff that they want to know!"

"Eehhh? Why not? It's not like he has any bad intentions!"

Leorio groaned in frustration. "Ugh…never mind. My name is Leorio. I'm in it for the money, of course."

The blonde cracked open his eye, hopping down from the hammock. "Kurapika Kurata. I want to be a black-list hunter to avenge my clan."

They waited for the last response and when they didn't hear it, all of the heads turned in his direction. It seemed that in this time, 'Suki had climbed into the hammock that Kurapika was previously snoozing in and had fallen fast asleep.

The crash that was heard when the four of them fell to the floor made quite a ruckus, but 'Suki still remained asleep. Gon sighed softly. "Not this again…'Suki! Oi! 'Suki! Wake up! Stop falling asleep anywhere you can find for once!" he said, shaking and slapping him across both cheeks gently.

'Suki groaned and shifted to his side. "Fine, fine…I'm up already. Geez Gon, you're such a mother hen… You can call me 'Suki, short for Satsuki. My last name…well, you'll find out if you hang around long enough."

"…And your reason is…?"

"…Right. I heard my brothers are taking part in the exam this year. Besides, it'll probably provide me some excitement. Haven't had much excitement in quite awhile…"

XXX

"I'll give you guys some advice," said the captain, pointing at the tallest tree on the top of the mountain in the far distance, "go to that tree and you will find your way to the hunter exam site."

Gon grinned at the captain, and shouted back to him, saying, "Thanks a lot, old man!"

The four of them looked at the map, deciding which way they were going to go. Leorio spoke up. "I'm going to take the bus…after all," he said, pointing to the tree, "that tree which he directed us to is in the complete opposite direction to where the exam site is."

Gon smiled. "I'm heading to the tree like the captain told us to do."

"Wha-! Don't be a fool! The tree is in the complete opposite direction!"

"I'm going anyway."

Leorio sighed. "Well, who else is coming with me?"

His question was met with silence. He looked at the two other boys. "Kurapika, 'Suki, both of you are going towards the tree as well?"

'Suki replied with no hesitation. "Of course I am! I have to take care of him."

Kurapika's response was quick too. "Yes. I find both of them interesting and if they're going that way then I'm going to go with them."

He let out a huge sigh. "But it'll be dangerous for a girl…"

On Kurapika's forehead, a throbbing vein appeared. "Who are you calling a girl?"

"Psh. Not you. I meant 'Suki, of course!"

'Suki smiled at Leorio reassuringly. "Don't worry. I can take care of myself. How else would I be able to keep an eye on Gon?"

Leorio chuckled. "You have a point there. Well, see you!"

XXX

The trio was walking up the mountain trail when they saw a man groaning on the middle of their path, clutching his ankle. In Kurapika's opinion, he was probably faking his 'wound'.

Being the kind-hearted boy he was, Gon immediately went to help him. "Oi! Are you ok?"

The man made a show of cracking open one of his eyes from the 'intense pain' he was feeling. "Ow! Sorry…I think I sprained my ankle…if you're going to the highest tree as well, would you please bring me with you?"

Before Kurapika or 'Suki could say anything, Gon had already replied. "Sure!" He carried the man on his back and continued hiking up the trail.

Behind them, 'Suki groaned. "Gon was duped by another person again…"

Kurapika sighed. "You think so too?"

'Suki snorted. "Think so? I **know** so. It's so obvious that he was lying. Oh well. At least Gon gets physically stronger from this!" he paused for awhile, digging in the little knapsack he was carrying, bringing out some snacks, "You want to try some?"

Kurapika blinked. "No thanks. Hey…you're a guy, aren't you? Why didn't you get irritated when Leorio mistook you for a girl?"

The brunette chuckled. "It's no big deal, really. Besides, when he does find out, I'm going to have a blast."

Both of them chuckled at the same time, eyes widening as well. "Woah…I guess we're kindred spirits, huh?"

"Yeah…"

"Well…this has gone on long enough…Oi! Gon! Why don't you go and find some herbs for his ankle? We're in your home territory after all."

Gon brightened up and placed the guy (who hasn't introduced himself yet) on the ground and told him, "I'll go find some herbs for your ankle so you sit tight and wait, alright?"

With that, he darted into the bushes, leaving Kurapika and 'Suki snickering at the man's bewildered face.

"Bet he didn't expect that."

'Suki wandered off into the opposite direction of the bushes, hearing the heavy footfalls of an animal. He came face to face with an angry rhino. "Woah. Hey there big guy…" The rhino snorted, blowing out steam. 'Suki patted the rhino on the head, calming it down. "I'm not here to steal your territory, so you can calm down…however, can you help me do something…?"

He whispered some words into the rhino's ear. The rhino seemed to grin in delight and charged off in the direction that 'Suki had come from, running directly in the shifty-looking-guy-who-was-sitting-on-the-ground's path. He gave a startled yelp and got off the floor, face looking comical to those around him.

Kurapika looked bewildered, but held his ground, staying where he was. When he saw 'Suki emerge from where the rhino charged from he laughed. "So it was your doing was it? How in the world did you manage to get it to do that?"

"Hm…? Oh, it's the art of befriending a wild animal …my specialty."

Both boys laughed. "Let's go after Gon, shall we?"

"Yeah... I want to see how the faker's face looks like all panicking."

They walked off leisurely, Kurapika following the rhino's footprints and 'Suki following the sound of footfalls.

When they reached there, they saw a strange sight. Leorio as well as the faker had both climbed up the tree and were shaking in terror. The rhino had an angry tick mark on its head.

'Suki sweat dropped. "Leorio, what did you do to the poor rhino?"

He paled. "I accidentally hit it on the head not really thinking it through when I saw them in danger."

'Suki collapsed on the ground clutching his sides, laughing hard. "Ahahaha…ok, ok, I'll help you. OI! Injured guy, seems like your ankle is all better, huh?" said 'Suki with an evil grin on his face, the hair that was already covering his eyes adding to the evil effect.

Meanwhile, Gon was trying to calm down the angry rhino. "Hey, it's not like we're trying to take over your territory, so calm down, alright?"

The rhino refused to be sated. 'Suki took over. "Hey big guy…Leorio there didn't mean to hurt you…it was an accident. Forgive him, alright?"

The rhino gave one angry snort and calmed down, eyes curving into a semi-circle. 'Suki smiled and patted him on the head again. The rhino nudged him, asking him to get onto its back.

'Suki blinked, surprised. "Okay…thanks a lot. Who wants to ride with me?"

Gon's hand shot up immediately. "I want to ride!" he said, before asking the permission of the rhino, "Can I ride too?"

The rhino seemed to nod, and Gon climbed on, sitting right behind the head. 'Suki looked at Kurapika and Leorio. "Want to ride?"

Kurapika said, "No thanks…"

'Suki looked at Leorio expectantly, who looked behind 'Suki's shoulder, seeing the rhino glare angrily at both him and the other 'injured' guy, and both of them declined the offer in fear of the rhino.

Gon told the rhino where to go, the rhino following his directions, lumbering along. 'Suki was sleeping on the rhino's back, causing the others to sweat drop at the sight. How he managed to fall asleep there was beyond them. The three followed behind warily, somewhat afraid of the rhino that seemed to have frequent mood swings.

XXX

They reached a ghost town, bidding goodbye to the rhino which helped them get there.

Walking in, to the ordinary eye, it seemed like it was indeed a ghost town, there being no one around.

However, those who were astute enough noticed the people. Kurapika looked weary. "We should be careful."

"Why? There's no one around."

Gon raised an eyebrow. "You can hear the rustling of clothes."

Kurapika continued. "You can hear their breathing."

"Plus their footsteps are quite loud, you know?" said 'Suki, smiling.

Leorio sweat dropped and strained his ears, muttering, "Well, sorry for having normal hearing."

Gon seemed to catch onto the nearest presence near them and dashed towards it. "Hi granny!"

The old granny walked out to the main street. "WELCOME TO THE TWO-QUESTION-HEAR-POUNDING QUIZ!"

They blinked at her.

She continued, not minding their reactions, explaining the rules. At the end, the faker revealed his true nature. "I'm going first. I'm not going to lose my chance at taking the hunter exams because you got it wrong."

The old lady said, "Someone kidnapped your lover and your mother. You can only save one of them. Which one will you save? Choose one or two. One, your mother, two your lover."

"One! There's only one mother in the world but I can always get another lover."

The old lady discussed with the others. They parted to one side, showing a path. "Pass through here."

He passed through, smirking at the rest of them. "See you later, suckers. If you get there, that is."

The old lady looked at the rest of them. "Your sister and your brother were trapped in a burning house and you can only save one of them. One, your sister, two your brother."

After 5 seconds, Leorio got pissed off. "WHAT KIND OF QUESTION IS THAT? THERE IS NO CORRECT ANSWER FOR THAT SINCE IT DEPENDS ON YOU!" He grabbed a nearby metal pole, walking towards the old lady menacingly.

"I'M GOING TO SEND YOU TO THE HUNTER EXAM SITE AND—"

He was cut off by Kurapika. "We already passed! Do you want to ruin it? There is no correct answer for that and there are only two options so the correct answer was the one we gave- silence."

"Huh? But why did he pass?"

"She told him to pass through but she didn't say that he got it correct."

Leorio ducked his head. "Sorry old lady."

She smiled, showing off two teeth. "Pass through here. When you reach the tree, there will be navigators to show you the way to the exam site."

The children parted to show them the real way to the tallest tree. When Gon, Kurapika and Leorio walked in, she narrowed her eyes, looking at 'Suki. "You…you know _it_, don't you? You should go on first…we need to test the three of them first…I can't have you interfering. Besides, it's obvious you are qualified seeing as you discovered it by yourself."

'Suki sighed, his hopes that something like this wouldn't happen dashed. "Alright, am I going to take the same route as them?"

"Yes…but you have to get ahead of them."

"…Fine."

With that, 'Suki dashed off in his friends' direction. He caught up with them in no time. "Hey…the old lady told me to go ahead first, something about wanting to give me a different test."

The three blinked at him. "Aah…sure."

He nodded his thanks, and before he left, he looked down at Gon and frowned a little. "Don't show off too much, alright?"

Gon's eyes curved into an upside down smile. "Okay!"

'Suki disappeared in front of their eyes. Kurapika and Leorio both blinked, rubbing their eyes furiously. When they realized they weren't seeing things, Kurapika stared, mouth slightly open, while Leorio openly gaped. "Holy crap…she was that fast."

The two behind him sweat dropped. Kurapika whispered to Gon. "He still hasn't figured out, huh?"

Gon shook his head, giving a negative.

XXX

('Suki's POV)

I reached the ending of the long tunnel in about 7 minutes. It was quite exhilarating. I haven't been able to go at full speed for quite some time now. It was great to finally be able to stretch out my legs fully again.

When I reached there, a boat caught my eye, indicating that I was supposed to cross the river with this. Looking closer, I only saw a single boat, so I opted to use nen instead. I was a transmutation type, whimsical and a liar.

Having lived life as a ninja before in another dimension (_he_ called it the Naruto-World), I had already mastered all five elements and the element of ice. Water was my main element there, and it was my special skill here. Of course, you can't walk on water using normal nen, so I changed my nen's aura to air and focused it on my feet, causing me to float, and to a by-stander, it would probably have looked like I was really walking on water.

Finding the pace too slow, I started running once again. Along the way, I caught sight of a 'BEWARE OF BEASTS' sign, but paid no attention to it. Finally, I hit land, and continued as if there was no change in environment, but I consciously shut off my nen.

Before long, I reached a wooden cabin right before the tallest tree on the mountain. I walked in quietly, and after watching what they were doing for awhile, I went over to the nearest wall and banged my fist on it unconsciously, body shaking from trying to control my laughter.

They were…

XXX

A/N: Sorry I cut it off the last chapter (T^T) it was too long! This is continued. Please tell me if you like it!


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3- Worlds Apart

A/N: here's the next chapter. (:

Disclaimer: I do not own Hunter X Hunter

Warnings: in the first chapter

XXX

They were playing Old Maid, those that got the joker card had to do the most embarrassing thing they could think of.

Minutes into the game, one of them eventually got the joker and made a really hilarious face. That's when 'Suki couldn't hold it in anymore, collapsing and banging his hands on the wall. It was somewhat of a miracle that the wall didn't collapse.

The family of four looked at 'Suki, paling. They thought that there was still a lot of time before the challengers came, seeing as the old lady had only informed them that four had passed around 30 minutes ago.

"Wha-! You weren't supposed to get here so soon!"

'Suki stopped laughing eventually. "It's alright. The other three aren't even halfway here yet and you probably couldn't sense me since I am currently using _in_ unconsciously. I don't think anyone can sense me anyway. If a family of assassins cannot track me at all, I don't think you will be able to sense me."

They gaped at him.

He continued his explanation. "The old lady said that I was supposed to get a special test. It had something to do with nen."

They huddled in the corner, discussing what they should test him on. 'Suki sweat dropped, being able to hear every word. All four of them transformed and ran around in a circle. They were all the same height and to the normal person, they probably looked all the same.

"You must tell us apart."

Ryuu raised an eyebrow and told them apart on the first try. They laughed. "No one has been able to tell us apart for a long, long time. Very well… You pass. If you can find the hunter exam site, you pass. One of us have gone there a couple of days ago, our nen flowing. If you are as good as you say you are then you should be able to get there. When you do, tell the cook this: Beef steak. When he asks how you want it cooked, say: slowly, under a low flame."

Giving his thanks, 'Suki took off immediately, and followed the trail of nen. Sure, it was really _really __**really**_ slight and almost everyone would be unable to track it, he was not like everyone else.

He reached the city in an hour, probably long before Gon, Leorio and Kurapika even reached the cozy, wooden hut. He entered the small, shabby-looking shop. The owner asked him what he wanted to eat.

He replied, "Beef Steak."

"How do you want it cooked?"

"Slowly under a low flame."

The owner smiled eerily and led him to a room that was empty of anything. He handed 'Suki a badge with the number "13" printed on it in large numbers.

'Suki whistled. "Wow. I'm one of the first few to reach here, huh?"

The chef exited the room and closed the door behind him, flipping a switch outside the room.

The floor started moving downwards, finally stopping when it reached the lowest it could go. There was another door and 'Suki opened it without hesitation, leading to a huge area of space that several people (12, to be precise) had already reached and were lazing around or sending hostile glares at each other.

Sighing, 'Suki sat down and leaned on the nearest wall, and to the others around, it looked like he fell asleep instantly, his breathing slowing down and posture slumping.

Slowly, one by one, he heard several people enter the room and do all sorts of things to pass the time. For example, chatting with others, outwardly attacking those who disturbed them as well as other forms of entertainment.

Precisely 18 hours later, he heard the familiar footsteps of the three people he had recently travelled with: Gon, Kurapika and Leorio.

Sighing, he opened his eyes and was strangely greeted by the sight of a rather square-nosed man. He bore the badge number of '16', showing that he had come not long after 'Suki himself arrived.

"Oh…? You're a rookie, huh? My name is Tompa."

'Suki nodded his head in response to the question.

"Hm…? For a rookie to arrive at the exam site so early is a rare feat indeed…hows about a can of drink to toast to you?" asked the man, smiling with hidden malicious intent, bringing out two cans of drink.

'Suki raised an eyebrow. The malicious intent was hidden rather well. He obviously had experience. But the way he gives you something so soon after meeting you is too obvious that the drink has some kind of poison of some sort in it.

He smiled sweetly at Tompa. "Sure. Why not? Give me a couple then."

Tompa gave an inaudible gulp. "Alright! Here you go!" he said, piling four cans into 'Suki's arms.

Smirking inwardly, 'Suki opened the first can and gulped it straight down, doing the same for the other three. By now, the man was starting to look a little pale, sweating a little. 'Suki let his smirk show. "Nice try, but I'm already immune to all poisons."

Sweating a little more, Tompa started backing away. "Ahahaha…it wasn't on purpose! I swear!"

"Hm…whatever you say." 'Suki made sure it was obvious that there was a small heart at the end of his sentence.

Not too far away, 'Suki saw him offer the same thing to another child with white hair and turquoise blue eyes. Something in the back of his mind clicked. _Brother…_it went; _I finally meet my younger brother. Killua. Mother and father gave him a good name…a fitting name for the heir of the Zaoldyeck family, that is._

Sweat dropping a little; he saw that Killua did the same thing as he did; only using his seemingly childish naïveté. Laughing, he heard Killua respond the same way he responded; only he let his cold-blooded side show through his icy cold eyes.

Tompa paled the slightest bit, but to Killua and 'Suki's trained eyes, it was a huge difference. Both gave satisfied smirks at his response.

Deciding that Killua was too dangerous for him to handle, he moved on…in Kurapika, Leorio and Gon's direction.

'Suki felt a flare of irritation. This guy was seriously starting to piss him off. He was weak himself, so he tried to bring rookies down using mental games and dirty tricks. From how he acted, he probably took some pleasure in it too.

Gon's senses were top-notch and he was able to tell that the drink tasted strange right away. Seeing Gon's reaction, Leorio and Kurapika immediately poured their canned drinks away.

'Suki smirked. _Amateur_, he thought, _it was too much of a heavy dosage_._ Anyone with senses as strong as Gon's (though I doubt it) will be able to tell right away. Though Gon's still too gullible and naïve than what I would like. At least it's better than before…_

Moments later, he made his way towards his friends. "Hey guys! You finally got here, huh?"

"Yeah! You got here so fast, though…" said Gon, looking at my badge number.

'Suki chuckled. "Considering I only made it here 18 hours before you guys, the number of people who arrive in between this time is **huge**! My test was probably harder than yours, though…"

Leorio raised two eyebrows. "Really? We got surprised by a 'beast' holding a woman 'hostage' and a man 'wounded' on the floor (unconscious) with another beast to take the first's place when attacked or caught. I somehow doubt you can beat that."

Kurapika's lips twitched in amusement. "You, who is starting to train in medical studies in the future, wasn't even able to tell that the wounds were fake and you want to argue with 'Suki?"

At this point, Leorio gave a miffed, "HEY! I resent that!" was promptly ignored.

The brunette smiled in amusement. "No offence was taken. I had to tell the family apart then make my way here myself. That was my test."

Leorio snorted. "That's it? Eventually I would have guessed them apart too. Plus getting here wasn't that long a distance."

Gon rebuked his statement. "'Suki was probably able to tell at the first glance. 'Suki was the one who trained me, after all. Besides, it probably didn't seem like such a long distance since you fell asleep halfway there and woke up only 5 minutes before we got there."

Ignoring Gon and Leorio both, Kurapika spoke directly to 'Suki. "Please elaborate on your test further."

"…Well, how am I supposed to explain this…Un... Something like this…I was made to track one of them all the way here from their scent which was roughly a week old. Of course, on the way there were many other predators and prey which tried to attack me (and got dealt with swiftly) from the air, of course, since I was travelling by the trees, and their scent was barely traceable and all, making it hard for me, plus –inserts long, detailed explanation-"

At the end, Gon blinked a couple of times and looked sort of bored, Leorio was gaping at him, while Kurapika calmly processed the information and stored it away for later use.

Shaking off whatever was left of his disbelief about 'Suki's test being harder that theirs, he opened his mouth and started to say something…When he was rudely cut off by a random guy appearing from a door.

The man had white hair that curved up at the ends and a thin mustache. Strangely enough, he had no mouth…but let's not dwell further on that.

He cleared his throat. "Ahem. The first exam has started. I will now bring you to the second exam site. Follow me."

A random candidate spoke up, shouting, "Hey! What about the first exam?"

"…I said the first exam has started, did I not?"

"…Yeah."

XXX

Somewhere along the way, while they were running at a regular pace (Gon, Leorio and Kurapika) or to some, an undeniably slow and leisurely pace ('Suki), Killua shot past them riding on his skateboard humming tunelessly.

Seeing this, a tick mark appeared on Leorio's head. "Hey! Don't cheat! All of us here are running whilst you are riding on your skateboard. That hardly takes any effort at all."

Gon spoke up for him. "No he isn't! The examiner only said we had to follow him. Besides, everything that we bring we're allowed to use."

Leorio swerved his head and looked at Gon, changing his anger direction. "Who's side are you on?"

Getting interested, Killua slowed down as well, hopping off his skateboard to run next to Gon.

Gon attempted to make friends with the only person that seemed close to his age (that he met so far). "Hi! My name is Gon! What's yours?"

Killua smiled at him. "Killua. Hm…Gon, how old are you?"

"Twelve!"

He perked up. "We're the same age, then!"

"Really?"

"Yeah!"

The two new friends smiled at each other.

"I'm Leorio."

Killua looked at Leorio. "Shouldn't you start getting tired already, gramps? It's already been 4 hours you know?"

More tick marks joined the first on Leorio's extremely large head. "Wha-! Who're you calling gramps? I'm only 19 you know!"

Killua, Gon and 'Suki all stared at him with different forms of bewilderment. "No way! You look **way** older than that!"

"What? We're not friends anymore, Gon, 'Suki, both of you."

Beside Leorio, Kurapika snickered. "At least you act like your age."

Leorio twitched, but deemed Kurapika's insult unfit for a reply.

Kurapika smiled at Killua. "My name's Kurapika and the person next to me is 'Suki."

'Suki nodded politely at his younger brother (not that he knew) and smiled his way, but quickly became slightly distracted at the sound of familiar footsteps. One belonged to Hisoka- the egoistic and self-confident man who believed he was the strongest no matter who he faced, but overall if you got past the urge to have good fights, he was pretty decent.

The second belonged to his older brother- Illumi. Silent and almost inaudible, just like the rest of their family. Strangely enough, he had pins stuck in his head and clothes and took on a completely different appearance.

Killua looked at the distracted brunette. "What's caught your attention?"

'Suki's thoughtful look disappeared. "Ah…I just saw some people that I know from before."

"Hm…who are they?"

Grey-blue eyes curved into a smile as he talked. "One is called Hisoka- wearing the badge of 44. He loves to fight more than anything, the only one here with orange hair," he said, pointing out Hisoka (who was way in front of them), "the second is…well. It would probably be better for me to point out to you later seeing as he's too far ahead."

The four companions sweat dropped at the fact that 'Suki took really long to recognize someone that he already knew from before.

Another 5 hours later, Leorio started getting tired. Kurapika and Gon were sweating slightly while Killua and 'Suki were still looking fresh like they took a stroll in the park.

Soon enough, Leorio started lagging behind a little. He stopped suddenly, huffing and panting, and said, "Y-you guys go on first. I'll catch up in a bit."

From behind a voice spoke up, "Aah? You're tired already? Y'know-"

He was interrupted by 'Suki, who frowned seeing Tompa pop up at the most convenient time. "No need. Here, Leorio, take this," he said, shoving a little box into Leorio's hand, "it's some candy that revives your stamina."

Leorio looked at it disbelievingly. "This little thing can revive my stamina? Are you sure?"

"Positive. Why don't you try it for yourself?"

He popped a couple of pieces into his mouth, chewing, and finally swallowing. Sure enough, a few moments later, he suddenly looked more energetic than before and dashed off. "Thanks a lot! I really did recover my stamina!"

Gon laughed and sped up as well, catching up with Leorio and starting a conversation.

'Suki, Killua and Kurapika were slightly behind, two looking curiously at the brunette. "What was in that chocolate?"

'Suki chuckled. "Nothing…"

"Wha-? Then what-"

"Oh- I just figured his sugar levels were dropping. Other than that, there is nothing in the chocolate…but I guess the fact that he actually believed it could recover his stamina helped too…"

Killua and Kurapika shot a look at each other, both starting to laugh.

XXX

"I'm going to speed up a bit," said the examiner, speeding up right after he finished saying his words.

Gaping a little, the candidates hastily sped up as well and followed after their examiner, going up the sudden flight of steep stairs.

About an hour after going up the steep flight of stairs, Gon, Killua and 'Suki were right behind the examiner while Kurapika and Leorio were lagging a bit behind. Gon and Killua looked back. "Wow! We're in the front now!"

"Yeah. Climbing the steps slower probably makes you lose even more energy."

'Suki, who was paying attention to the front instead of the back, saw their examiner look back, curious about the ability of the two kids. Smiling, he whispered to him, "They're really good. They'll beat many twice their age with the right combat experience and teaching."

The examiner's face remained unchanged, but you could see the slight widening of his eyes, that was gone so fast you would have thought it was just a mere illusion of the light.

XXX

Most of the candidates had their hands on their knees as they panted heavily from the lack of oxygen just before a heavy slab of metal separating them from the tunnel that they just stepped out from.

'Suki sensed minor bloodlust from his right side, but ignored it. Hisoka was probably feeling impatient right now…so he would take care of that by himself. Besides…it wasn't like he was opposed to killing a wild beast…scratch that. He wasn't even opposed to killing those who got in his way or after they reach their full fighting potential.

Honestly, he was hoping that Killua and Gon wouldn't get targeted by him, but fat chance of that happening…he was always on the lookout for developing talents.

During the time where he was slightly distracted, he had taken in the information about what was going around him unconsciously. This was mainly due to his many years of training and skill refining.

After the ruckus died down a little, Killua walked up to the still thoughtful brunette and tapped him on the shoulder. "Hey, aren't you going to start running as well?"

'Suki reluctantly shoved the thoughts back into his mind. "Yeah…" he said, looking at the dead monkey and man out of the corner of his eye, "They were killed in rather crude ways…"

Killua raised an eyebrow incredulously. "I think you're the first girl I've ever met that hasn't squirmed when seeing someone getting killed in front of you."

'Suki's lips twitched in amusement. He was definitely going to cut his hair when he got to the second stage of the exam.

"Well, let's get going, Gon, Killua, Leorio, Kurapika!"

"OK!"

XXX

Leorio, Kurapika and another candidate stood in the battlefield. Corpses lay around them courtesy of Hisoka; all dealt a swift end by a mere poker card.

All three looked weary of him, the last candidate whispering commands to them, "Hey, on the count of three we split up and run. There's no way we're going to survive this otherwise."

The blonde teen and black-haired med-student-to-be nodded their heads slightly in agreement.

"1…2…3…!"

All three took off at their fastest pace.

Hisoka looked intrigued. "That's a good idea. Though…you're not too smart, are you?" he said, directing his last few words at Leorio, who had came back, brandishing a short knife in his hand.

"That's just not the way I fight!" he yelled, dashing at the cold-hearted killer.

Hisoka chuckled, dealing a blow to Leorio's face, knocking him unconscious, and about to give him another one when a fine wire with a hook stopped him in his tracks.

Gon landed on the other side, glaring at Hisoka. "Leave him alone!"

Hisoka gave another of his unnerving chuckles. "It's alright. He passed."

"Passed?"

Just then, Kurapika appeared in the clearing too.

Hisoka smiled creepily. "Oh…? I guess everyone really does need a friend. You two pass too."

'Suki appeared a couple of meters in front of Hisoka. "Hisoka. Haven't seen you for a long time!" said 'Suki, smiling angelically.

Hisoka raised an eyebrow, suspicious of what 'Suki was going to say next. "Hey 'Suki. What do you want? Every time you smile like that, you definitely want something."

'Suki dropped the smile like he scalded his tongue, his face darkening. "Heh…you know me so well. I want you to leave Gon, Leorio, Kurapika and Killua alone. They're my friends, after all, and I won't allow you to hurt them."

"Oh? And what are you going to do if I don't?"

The angelic smile was back up again. "You won't ever have the privilege of hiring me for a job again…and we all know there are some things _**Illumi**_ can't do."

Both were having a contest to see whose smile was creepier. Apparently 'Suki won the contest when Hisoka made a slight twitch. "Fine."

Hisoka's cell phone rang. "Hello?"

"Yeah, yeah…OK."

He hung up, picked up Leorio, slinging him over his shoulder and started running in the examiner's direction. "You better hurry," he said, casting a sly glance over his shoulder.

After he left, Gon collapsed onto his knees. "Whew…! That was terrifying!"

'Suki chuckled. "That's Hisoka for you."

Kurapika looked at 'Suki suspiciously. "How do you know Hisoka anyway?"

"Ah…through my job."

"What_ is_ your job? You've never told me, 'Suki!"

A grin made its way onto 'Suki's face. "Se~cr~et! You'll find out when Killua tells you his!"

"Ah…we better get going lest we be late."

"Right."

The three set off, Gon leading them by Leorio's scent of aftershave, barely making it there on time.

"Well! You've reached the second exam site. This is where I'll leave you," said the first examiner (who never introduced himself), jumping into the trees to silently watch the action.

The remaining candidates were left standing in front of a huge white building. With a clock ticking…

Tick.

Tick-tock.

Tick-tock-tick-tock…

XXX

That's the end! If you want more, please review! :D


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